A clearinghouse of news and events about historic Route 66, the Mother Road.

More about that Diet Mountain Dew commercial

Longtime readers of this site probably have seen a muddy-looking but still-invigorating Diet Mountain Dew commercial featuring an altered version of Bobby Troup’s “Route 66″ by John Lydon, aka Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols.

A high-quality version of the ad recently was uploaded by the AICP Show, which honors art and technique for those working the advertising world. Because the footage here is so much better, it becomes apparent Route 66 shield pops up everywhere and is a lot more noticeable.

According to AICP’s archives, the Diet Mountain Dew commercial was made in 1997 by HKM Productions for the BBDO New York agency. The director was Michael Karbelnikoff, who still is doing commercials and the occasional feature film, including “Mobsters.” The AICP Show honored the ad that year for production design.

According to the archives, there was a 60-second version of the ad that I still haven’t seen. And, according to my Shazam app, Lydon’s recording of “Route 66″ is not available commercially.